Alone Together
by ACalmBefore
Summary: Emma gets separated from the others in Neverland and finds herself alone and well, a bit lost. That is till she runs into a familiar face.
1. Chapter 1

Alone Together.

Well, whatever. She didn't need them anyways, right? Alone. Alone was what had always come natural to her. And what HAD she been thinking with all that 'let's work together' nonsense anyhow? How could she really expect to work together with her silly wide-eyed optimistic... _parents_, and then Regina being all grumpy and negative and Hook being all... Hook-ish... Yeah, no... this was probably better. Alone. Probably.. maybe... most likely... better. Emma stopped and sighed in the middle of the dark forest and looked around at the dense population of trees and vegetation surrounding her. She had been trying to convince herself of this for the past hour and there was still an annoying whisper in her brain.. 'you're lying to yourself...'

"Yeah, I know! I know!" She said out loud to nothing and no one. She grumbled and sat down on a near by mossy rock, slumping her shoulders in defeat. She just didn't really feel like she had an option, convincing herself that she worked better alone, was better then getting all angry at herself for loosing them in the first place. The forest was just so dense and dark and... one minute she was with them... could hear their voices... their bickering... their attempts at compromising... then more arguing... then nothing. Gone. Completely gone. ... And she was alone. Again. A lost girl.

"Ughhh..!" She groaned and tried to shake away all her feelings, she hated how... vulnerable this place made her feel. And she needed to focus. She needed to find Henry. Even though she had lost the group, didn't mean she was going to give up. The others would be alright with Hook and she was the one who had the map... Oh, wait. She DID have the map, right? Emma stood up suddenly and started patting down her pockets as the realization settled on her, she'd handed the map off to Hook. She hadn't really meant to, he had just been prattling on and on looking over her shoulder at the map so she had just handed it to him since he seemed the best at reading it. It had seemed like a perfectly harmless move when they were all together, but now as she stood alone in the dark woods... it was possibly the stupidest thing she had ever done. How was she suppose to find anyone or anything in these woods?! With all these stupid, stupid horrible shadowy trees! Emma angrily started running through them pushing leaves and branches out of her way and cursing till she was out of breath and stopped. Doubled over and breathing hard, slowly her heart rate slowed and that's when she heard it... footsteps.

Emma shot straight up, eyes wide and looking around. She held her breath and listened. Was it the group? She didn't hear any voices and it sounded like only one pair of feet. Was it Pan? Possibly... or any of the other lost boys,.. in which case she should be ready. She reached for her sword and listened. Then she heard,

"Oh, hello Miss Swan."

She spun around holding her sword in front of her.

Gold.

He held his hands up with a smirk on his face, "Feeling a bit, _on edge_, are we?" He eyed her sword.

Emma lowered her sword and rolled her eyes and sighed. Well, at least she wasn't alone anymore.

********************************************

"Where have you been? What have you been doing? Did you find Henry? Are you EVEN looking for him?" Emma rattled off all the questions that ran through her mind as she took in the man standing in front of her. He was still wearing that ridiculous outfit, she wasn't going to get use to that anytime soon. "And why don't you need your cane anymore?" She looked intently at him for a minute, he seemed perfectly comfortable standing there in the middle of the trees. "You've been here before, haven't you? You know how to find your way around?... Well?! Answer me!" She moved closer and started to raise her sword again...

"Eh, Dearie, no need to point a sword at me." He cut her off and she lowered the sword while raising an eyebrow at him as he continued, "If you are done giving me the third degree I'd be happy to answer... some... of your questions, that is, if you answer some of mine. So, are you quite done?"

Emma didn't really feel like she had the patience for his mannerisms right then, but she swallowed and nodded her head, trying to remember that he might be helpful in finding Henry... that is, IF he would help. With that thought, she put the sword away completely and crossed her arms and waited.

Gold narrowed his eyes at her, "Where are the others?"

"I lost them in the woods."

"When?"

"About a hour ago."

"Have you seen any... lost boys?"

"Unfortunately, Yes."

"And... Pan?"

"Again,.. unfortunately yes."

"Hmm. " Gold just looked at her like he was figuring her out for the first time, "And... anyone... else?"

"What do you mean anyone else?"

"In the woods. Have you, seen anyone else?" He fluttered his fingers around in the air like that was suppose to explain what seeing someone else in the woods was like.

"No. Have you?"

"No." He stopped and stared at her again. He was creeping her out a little, he was behaving a little... odd. But then he cleared his throat suddenly grabbing her attention.

"Alright, answers..." Gold started "As for where I've been and what I've been doing.. that's none of your business." Emma sighed loudly which caused him to stop and give her a look before continuing, "As far as looking for and finding Henry. It might surprise you Miss Swan that YES, it was my intention to come here to find Henry. But, no. I haven't found him... YET." He emphasized the last word with confidence but his eyes nervously glanced around quickly in a way that confused Emma. "And!" He quickly directed his eyes back at her and continued, " Concerning why I'm not using my cane... why don't you guess on that one. You're a smart girl..." He raised his eyebrows expectantly at her.

Emma sighed, "Magic."

"Ah! Paying such close attention! Good girl." He gave her a fake proud smile, "And then... you asked if I knew my way around." He threw his hands out wide gesturing to the dark forest around them. He smirked at her, "Again, Guess!"

Emma sighed again, this was ridiculous... " Well, I just hope the answer is yes so you can help me figure out where I am and where to find Henry because I had a map, but I left it with Hook..."

"A map?" He interrupted her. "Where prey tell did you get a map in these woods?"

"Oh, did you fail to see the map store? It's right by the gnarly tree next to the weeds..." Emma gestured sarcastically over her shoulder.

"You're as charming as your father." He replied dryly, his tone seemed to imply that he didn't actually think her father was charming at all.

"Ha." Emma responded. "The map came from Pan. He... uh,... gave it to me."

"What was the game?" He responded flatly.

Emma looked up at him quickly, "What makes you think it was a game?"

"Because he's _Peter Pan_!" Gold responded mockingly, "He's the annoying little boy who refuses to grow up and all he does is play games. He wouldn't of just given you a map, Miss Swan, unless there was some kind of game surrounding it. "

"Uhh.." Emma felt uncomfortable and didn't really want to share how she was able to unlock the image of the map. "I ... I had to accept who I am... who I really am."

"Huh." He nodded his head to the side looking at her, "And... who is that?"

"Um, an orphan."

Gold just nodded and stood there, he pierced his lips while looking at her. "So did it work? Did you win the game?"

"I got the map to appear, if that's what you are asking. But little good it does me now because I don't have it and I lost the others and.." She was getting annoyed and angry at herself again.

"So!" He interrupted her again, "You accepted who you are and believe in yourself now?" He still sounded like he was mocking her.

"I have always believed in myself!" Emma raised her voice, knowing that wasn't entirely true, but she really didn't like the tone he was taking with her right now.

"Have you?" His voice went up again in mocking and he scrunched his nose at her. He sighed and moved to turn and walk away. "Lovely catching up Miss Swan... but I really must be off now."

"Wait, NO!" Emma shouted moving quickly to follow him, "I need your help! I don't have the others anymore, or the map! I can't find Henry on my own! You were right, back on the ship, what you said! I don't fully believe. I need someone to..."

"Yes I WAS right! You do. But I don't plan on being THAT person..." He spun to face her and moved his hand up like he was getting ready to snap his fingers...and... what? Disappear? Emma panicked, she couldn't be alone again.

"No! Please!" Emma's mind raced for something to say that would make him stay and help, "What about Neal?" She blurted out. He paused and looked at her, his hand hovering in the air.

"My son is dead." His voice was low and quiet as he looked at her hesitantly.

Emma swallowed hard refusing to get emotional on the subject, but finding that the wound was still too fresh, but she barreled forward anyhow. "Yeah, but what would he have wanted? ... If he was here?" She gulped and looked down at the thought of Neal being there. Damnit. She didn't want to cry, but how desperately she wanted that to be true. For Neal to be here. She took a deep breath and looked back up at Gold, "Please, help me find my son. For Neal."

Gold looked a little broken at that and lowered his hand completely. He grumbled and looked away, but when he looked back his eyes had harden again.

"Fine, Miss Swan. On the condition we don't talk about my son again."

Emma breathed in with relief. "Deal."


	2. Chapter 2

Alone Together. CHAPTER 2: Someone Else in the Woods.

"So, do you have any idea where to begin? I think I can sort of remember what the map looked like. Maybe I could draw what I remember in the dirt..." Emma trailed off looking for a stick.

"Miss Swan that's not necessary." Gold's irritated voice interrupted her search. "Just... keep up." And her turned and walked off at full speed into the trees.

Emma moved quickly to follow him and found herself surprised at his speed. Then she remembered she'd never walked anywhere with him when he didn't have a limp before. "So if you used magic to get rid of your limp, and you also had magic in Storybrooke, why.." But she didn't get a chance to finish the question before he answered.

"Appearances are a powerful thing. Plus I often found that cane came in handy... _quite often_." He smirked dryly.

"Yeah, I'm aware..." Emma flashed back to the time she had to practically tear him away from the town florist. "And so.. you know where you.. where we, are headed?" She tried to look at him in the face while keeping up with him, but it was hard.

"Yes, Miss Swan." He pointed vaguely in front of them, "Over the river and through the woods to Grandfather's house we go." He recited in a bored voice.

"To Grandfather's house?!" She couldn't keep the surprise out of her voice, "Isn't that, like another story...? Or a song? Or something..."

Gold sighed as he walked, "I thought you were a smart girl, haven't you figured out yet that everything overlaps?"

"Right." Emma responded, nodding her head like all of this was making perfect sense. "So, you know WHERE Henry is?"

"See, here is your problem Miss Swan, it isn't about where Henry is. It's about what Henry is."

"What is he?" Emma's eyes wide as she remembered Pan telling her that he was a 'special' boy...

"Precisely what you aren't."

"...Young... and male?" Emma shrugged in confusion.

This prompted Gold to turn to her in aggravation, "You are going to need to stop looking at everything on the surface Miss Swan if you expect to make it anywhere in THIS world. Never mind getting your son back." He grumbled and continued walking at a fast pace.

Emma just sighed and followed. So much for her being the leader.

************************************************** ***********************

They walked through the dark woods for the rest of the day, sometimes Gold would pause and then quickly turn and walk in a different direction. This happen more then a few times and caused Emma to worry that he was just making them walk in circles. But she kept quiet, and bit her lip, because she honestly didn't know what else to do. Following him seemed the only choice. Without him she would of simply been wandering.

Then they finally emerged from the woods to a wide clearing that surprised Emma in the way it sort of seemed to appear out of no where. She looked up with a certain level of relief at seeing the sky again, and saw it was spotted with many many unfamiliar stars. When she finally looked down from the sky she was even more surprised to see a wide river cutting through the entire clearing. At least she thought it was a river, however the water was still, as still as glass.

"What..." Emma gasped and walked quickly towards the 'river' to investigate.

"I wouldn't get too close." Gold mumbled.

Emma looked back over her shoulder at him and then back at the water. A shudder past over her and she found herself backing away from it, for some reason she felt he was right.

"What's the deal with that... river?"

"Still waters run deep." Was all Gold said in response. Emma noticed that he had created a campfire from some near by branches and sticks with just a wave of his hand. Then he created an orb of fire and threw it casually into campfire, causing it to spark to life in a warm welcoming glow. "Relax, Miss Swan. We cross the river in the morning."

"How?" Emma looked around, the river was very very wide and there was no bridge that she could see. Maybe they could swim across, the water was certainly calm enough, but something made her not want to touch that water...

"Sleep." Gold pointed at her and then he sat down under a nearby tree and leaned back on the trunk and closed his eyes.

"Ok..." That answered no questions what so ever. Emma stood there awkwardly for a minute before lowering herself to the ground as well and leaning back on a nearby rock. Hmm.. not super comfy, but she wasn't really tired. She found herself looking over at Gold, wearing those weirdo clothes and leaning against the tree to her left with his eyes closed. She thought about what he said about appearances being powerful. She supposed he was right, this outfit made him seem a bit more... she wasn't sure of the word,...formidable perhaps? Than a three piece suit. At least in these woods. On the streets of Storybrooke it was a different story. She quietly shook her head thinking how a big part of Gold's motivation in the world seemed to be appearing like he was powerful and invincible. Yet, she had seen him laying on what he thought was his death bed, seen him reduced to tears, seen looks of vulnerability on his face when he thought no one was looking, seen him look broken over the loss of his son... Neal. Her mind raced back to Neal, the last time she saw him, in that cursed vortex that took his dying body away from her. She sighed heavily and looked back at Gold trying to imagine him as a father. As Neal's father. She looked for signs of Neal on his face. Tried to imagine Neal as a little boy, being hugged and cared for by this man. She tried, but... she just didn't see it. She just couldn't imagine that Neal had gotten that much love from this man, because Neal had been like her, an orphan, alone in the world. But then again Gold HAD gone to great lengths to find him... and he seemed to be making an effort to find Henry...

Suddenly her eyes snapped open, had she been asleep?

She looked around, it was still dark and the stars were still out, the fire was perhaps a bit lower and dimmer though. She went to close her eyes again when... "Emma..."

She open her eyes wide and sat up looking around, her hand instinctively going to her sword. "Who.." She whispered into the dark, "Who's there?"

"Emma.."

It sounded like it was coming from within the trees, she stood up and stared in the direction, trying to get her eyes to adjust to the dark and make out who was there... She saw a shadow pass by and she jumped slightly.

"Emma."

She knew that voice. She definitely knew that voice. But... no.

The shadow passed again, but this time she saw it was a fully formed human figure wearing a cloak, she approached the trees,... and took a step into the darkness.

"Emma!"

The voice was right behind her and she spun around, and when she saw the face that was looking back at her, she dropped her sword to the ground.

"Neal?!"

"Emma." Neal smiled his big familiar smile at her, like he had expected to see her here.

"Wha... HOW? Are you..?! I don't..." She stammered trying to catch her breath, she reached out and grabbed his shoulders, he felt real. A warm human body. But he couldn't be, could he? "Are you okay?!" She finally sputtered out feeling that wasn't really all she wanted to say, but words.. words didn't make any sense as she stared at him.

"Yes Emma. Emma, I'm fine." He held on to her shoulders and looked intently into her eyes, "I'm fine." He repeated.

"But... How are you here? How did you..."

Neal laughed a tiny bit, but it sounded sad, "I'm not."

Emma just stared at him... what did he mean. What was happening? Was she loosing her mind?

"I'm not really here Emma. It's this place," He gestured around them, "Imagination is very powerful here, it makes things real."

"So... I'm just imagining you?" Emma felt so very small, and wanted to clutch on to him to make sure he didn't disappear. He did seem very real. She must be loosing her mind.

"In a way, yes." He smiled at her, "It's so good to see you." He wrapped his arms around her.

"Uh.." Emma was torn on how to react, he was just a figment, but would it really be so bad to give into it? "Neal... you are dead." She said it out loud mostly for herself, but was surprised when Neal laughed.

"No I'm not. I'm alive. I'm just not here. But I'm looking for you Emma, I know that you are here. I'm going to find a way to you, I promise." He looked intently at her.

Emma's mouth just hung open... "Alive?! How? You were.. shot. I saw you. Then you.. the vortex... the portal... Where are you?"

"I'm okay. I'm safe. But what about you? This is a dangerous place, I know it well... unfortunately..."

"I'm..." Emma stammered and looked around her trying to remember reality, "I'm,..uh,... with your dad."

"My dad? Really?"

"Yeah, I'm with Gold... he's over there... I guess asleep.." She gestured towards the clearing. "He thinks you're dead too..."

"Good." Neal responded quickly. "I mean,.." He caught himself, "I mean,... I guess it's good that you are with him, he knows this world well enough."

"We're looking for Henry, and I'm so scared we won't find him or be too late. Peter Pan took him and he gave me a map, but I had to accept that I'm an orphan to see it... and then I lost the others and the map... but then I found Gold..." She was talking quickly and felt it all pouring out of her, she really wanted him with her.

"Okay.. Okay Emma." Neal held on to her shoulders gently, "What you need to remember is this place runs on imagination and belief. What you believe is more powerful then anything else here, it's the most powerful weapon you can have. You need to believe in yourself. You need to believe in finding Henry... otherwise you never will."

"But.. I'm scared.. I can't.." She felt tears on her face. Damnit. She felt fragile and broken, She grabbed tightly onto Neal's cloak, she wanted him to be real.

"You need to Emma. You NEED TO. Okay, Emma?" He looked her in the eye intensively. "Okay, Emma?"

"Okay." Her voice small.

"Now wake up."

"What...?"

"Wake up."

Emma's eyes snapped open and she found herself back by the campfire, it was burnt out and the sun was shining through the trees. Gold was standing by looking at her, "Ah, about time you woke up."

"I..." Emma jumped up in alarm. How? Was it.. Was it only a dream? No. No it had seemed real. It.. Where...? She looked around herself frantically.

"You alright Miss Swan? We don't have all day."

"I saw..." Emma stammered at him.. but then remembered their deal and she blurted out, "_someone_."

Gold sighed, "No one is here." But then he paused and looked at her with curiosity, "but who did you see?"

"No one," Emma stammered, "I mean, someone. But, it was only a dream. I was dreaming..."

"Hmm.." Gold eyed her suspiciously. "No one dreams in Neverland."

"Oh. Really?" Emma tried to behave casually with that information. "Well.. first time for everything, huh?" She shrugged and dusted off her pants from the ground. This was crazy, she had to get a hold on herself. Neal was dead. It could only be a dream. I had to of been. "So are we crossing that river or what?"


	3. Chapter 3

Alone Together. CHAPTER 3: The River of Nightmares and the Canyon of Wishes.

Emma just wanted to move on, find Henry and stay focused on that goal and forget about whatever delusion imaginary dream or whatever she had just awoken from. She shook herself off and started to walk towards the river that they needed to cross when she stopped dead in her tracks.

"There's...uh... where's the water?" Emma murmured finding herself facing, instead of a wide vast river of still water, a wide vast canyon.

"This shouldn't come as a surprise if you had read the sign." Gold casually pipped in and walked over to the right where an old wooden sign was posted, Emma could not for the life of her remember seeing the night before. The sign read: The River of Nightmares and the Canyon of Wishes.

"So... so at night it's a river and during the day it's a canyon?" Emma said slowly, trying to wrap her mind around that concept.

"Well,..." Gold walked along the edge gesturing, "whose to say that a canyon isn't just an empty river and a river isn't just a canyon full of water?" He spun to face her, he seemed a bit delighted with this reasoning.

"So when you said still waters run deep..." Emma glanced over the edge, seeing absolutely no bottom.

"I wasn't really being metaphorical, no." Gold crossed his arms like he was waiting for this conversation to be over.

"But why didn't we just cross at night?!" Emma suddenly thought, annoyed, "A river is much easier to cross then a canyon! We could of swam! What are we suppose to do now?! FLY?!"

Gold gave her a look that told her she wasn't far off. Oh dear.

"You are forgetting, Miss Swan, this is the River of _Nightmares_ and the Canyon of _Wishes_. Now, which would you rather face? Your nightmares? Or your wishes?"

"You just said no one dreams in Neverland."

"That doesn't mean there aren't any nightmares here, it only makes them all the more real... actually.." Even Gold looked disturbed by that as he said it, giving Emma a shiver. She remembered the horrible feeling she had when looking at the river last night, she had to admit the canyon didn't really give her the same feeling.

"Okay, so what's the deal with this Canyon of Wishes?" Emma walked a little closer, trying to be confident but instead feeling a bit hesitant. There really wasn't a bottom... that she could see.

"Well Miss Swan..." Gold sighed and looked at canyon, he actually seemed hesitant too, which both surprised and worried Emma, "Neverland is powered with belief. One needs to believe fully in what is around them in order to succeed here.."

Emma had a sudden flash of Neal talking to her, "What you believe is more powerful then anything else here..." His words flashed through her mind, and she bit her lip.

"So,.." Gold reluctantly seemed to continue, "the canyon won't let you cross unless you fully believe in your deepest wish... it's one of the many fun and delightful games around these parts.." the last part came out in his more mocking tone.

Emma sighed deeply and took in the wide vastness of the canyon in front of her, an eerie fog rolling slowly in it's crevices. "...fully believe in my deepest wish." Emma murmured. "Well, that's easy enough," She said looking confidently over at Gold, "My deepest wish is to find Henry and bring him home."

"Huh." Gold seemed unimpressed with this statement. "Where's home?"

"Storybrooke, of course."

"So, let me get this straight Miss Swan," Gold started pacing, "Your deepest, absolutely deepest wish you have in your soul," He paused and raised his eyebrows at Emma causing her to frown, "is to find your biological son and return him to the town he grew up in?"

"Yeah," Emma was confused by his skepticism, "Why? What's wrong with that? It's a perfectly reasonable wish given the circumstances."

"...perfectly reasonable wish given the circumstances." Gold literally mocked her words back into her face, she frowned. "A perfectly reasonable wish is not going to get you across the canyon, dearie. You need to dig deep and be horribly and painfully honest with yourself. WHAT is your DEEPEST wish?"

"Ugh!" Emma threw her hands up in frustration and paced away from him and then back and then away, "This is the map all over again! I really don't... Do we even have to cross this thing? Isn't there maybe another way?" She looked at him hopefully.

"No. This is the way to Grandfather's house. Over the 'river' and through the woods. That's where we're going." Gold said calmly, pausing for a moment as Emma looked at him with severe frustration and bewilderment before he continued, "No one said Neverland was fun." He finished darkly.

"Well, yes, actually!" Emma countered, "In all the stories Neverland IS fun! It's where kid's get to be kid's forever, play games, do whatever they want without grown-ups telling them otherwise..." She trailed off a bit in thought. Right? That was what Neverland was suppose to be?

"Tell me Miss Swan, does that really sound fun to you? A bunch of children doing_ whatever_ they want without their mother's or father's around? That's really just a bunch of anarchy-loving chaotic orphans, isn't it?" Gold raised his eyebrows expectantly at her.

"I suppose..."

"But," Something dark flashed in Gold's eyes, "It does perhaps sound familiar, doesn't it? Not having parents, doing whatever you want... Miss Swan?"

Emma shifted uncomfortably, "Yeah," She responded bitterly, "I suppose. But what's your point? I already admitted to being an orphan. That.. Yeah, Sure!. ..I look at the lost boys and I see myself in them... What of it?"

"You tell me," Gold's voice was heavy and then he raised his hand up, "Actually, no, you tell yourself. What of it, indeed?" And he backed off about several feet from her.

Emma gave him an exasperated look and threw her hands wide, but Gold just gave her a steady look of 'Figure it out.' Emma spun around and paced away from him again then a thought occurred to her and she spun back around to face him.

"What about you?" She pointed towards him looking a little proud of herself, "Don't you need to fully believe in your deepest wish as well? How are you gonna get across?"

"I'm over 300 years old, Miss Swan, you don't think I've already figured out my deepest wish?" His tone was sarcastic.

"Well, what is it?"

"None of your business, dearie."

"Oh come on! I've told you that who I really am is a lost orphan. Who are you really? What's your wish? Isn't it fair, that you share something with me?"

"There is no such thing as fair."

"If this is a game, as you like to put it, then there are rules. Therefore there is a certain level of fairness... is there not?"

"Not if the game is fixed."

"It can't be fixed! Why would we EVEN be trying then?"

Emma suddenly became aware that they were bickering like children. She sighed and just threw her hands up again in defeat.

"Miss Swan, why don't you just focus on finding your own deepest wish so we can move on." Gold sounded tired.

"You know,... you can call me Emma, Miss Swan is so formal."

"I'd really prefer not to."

"Whatever..." Emma walked away from him.

After she was a good twenty feet away, she sat her self down indian style and tried to calm down and focus. She put her head in her hands. What was her deepest wish? Did it have something to do with being an orphan? Was it having a family? She turned around that thought in her head, and it made tears well up in her eyes. Yes. Having a family. That must be it. She moved like she was gonna stand up, but then paused... but was that too easy? Was it more than that? She stood slowly anyhow, and she saw Gold look over curiously at her. She walked slowly back over to where he was standing, waiting.

"I wish I had a family." She said quietly.

"How sweet." Gold responded, "Don't we all."

Emma narrowed her eyes at him. Okay so, she was right, that was too easy. Emma sighed angrily towards the canyon.

"Family is a rather vague concept." Gold said, his voice serious but it almost sounded helpful. She looked him and became very aware of the lines on his face. He was right. She needed to define what a family was for her personally. What was a family? Being safe. Being loved. Being happy. Feeling like the best version of yourself. Feeling at home no matter where you are. Had she ever felt that? Completely? With anyone? Not with Mary Margaret and David, that was for sure. With Henry? She wanted to say yes... but, something ate at her saying no. With... Oh. Before she could stop herself the words came out of her mouth in a whisper,

"My deepest wish is Neal."

As soon as the words left her mouth, a wooshing sound filled her ears and everything blurred in front of her, she closed her eyes in shock and when she opened them she was standing on the other side of the canyon staring back at a very small distant Gold. Oh. It worked.

But then also, OOOh. Her deepest wish was Neal? She said that out loud. Did he hear her? He must of. She started chewing on her lip nervously as she eyed the tiny figure of Mr. Gold on the other side of the canyon. Would he be mad? He said to never talk about his son again. But then suddenly a dark and horrible realization washed over her. Her deepest wish was Neal, and Neal was dead. He was gone. He was her only ever true family and he was gone forever. She felt the wind knocked out of her and she bent over with her hands on her knees, trying to control herself but before she knew it she was on her knees on the ground with tears running down her face. Damnit. The more she tried to stop, the more she couldn't control it, she was shaking and had her hands grasped over her mouth trying to contain the sobs. Her breathes were raspy and erratic, she squeezed her eyes shut like as if that could squeeze away this horrible feeling. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder, and she started and looked up in surprise. Mr. Gold was standing over her looking at her with a very dark look on his face. His jaw was set very tightly, but his eyes were almost... almost sad, briefly, before they hardened at her.

"Someone once told me that you need to let go of the past, to move forward into the future." His voice was heavy and he had quickly removed his hand from her shoulder, wiping his hands as if they were contaminated, "Don't dwell on the past." With that he walked away quickly, very quickly. In fact too quickly. Emma jumped up realizing that she need to move so she didn't loose him as he reentered the forest. She took a shaky deep breath and followed him. She had completely missed his crossing of the canyon, and she briefly wondered what his wish was.


End file.
